Citizens of Heaven Rules | Elder Ang Peng Hoe

You're listening to a message to go from X Church. We hope this message

will light up your team. I've been teaching a little bit on Paul's epistles

of late and of course all of it I try to align with our team,

and many of you all know what our team is this year. It's

right behind me. It says Heaven rules, and I think it's going to

be very, very important that we keep our eyes on the team as well,

because this is indeed what the Lord has left with us ex Church,

something that we can look forward to, not just for this year, but

also the next seven years as we work ourselves towards the finishing line. We

believe that God has given us something and really a clear direction all the way

to twenty thirty. And I'm sure if the Lord doesn't come back by then

and beyond, he will continue to reveal himself to us. Amen. Okay,

I'm going to be teaching from a portion of Scripture in Philippians Chapter one.

Good news is it's only about three or four verses. Not so good

news is I got a lot of notes written down from this three or four

verses, and I urged y'all to stay with me. I hope. I

don't boil y'all, but stay with me as we journey true God's Scriptures.

I've simply simply just entitled this morning's message as Citizens of Heaven Rules. I'm

going to be talking a lot about what colonization means in today's portion of scripture,

and of course, naturally what idea was. I had to key in

the keyword colony to look for deck of slacks slides, and most of it

came out like all the European colonization, and then got all the different flags.

So if you notice, yeah, this one is one free deck.

Likes a free deck, Okay, I didn't want to pay for slides,

so I took a free deck and you can see that this one is.

I think it's got to do with the Spanish Inquisition, but yeah, please

ignore the Spanish flag, even though there's a lot of yellow and Raid,

a lot of yellow and Reid. But it's okay, we're going to be

talking about the Kingdom of God. Okay, everyone with me, Citizens of

Heaven Rules. Okay, Philippians, Chapter one, verses twenty seven to thirty.

See, I told you four about four verses only, and I'm going

to be reading from the n LT, and then we will go through the

verses line by line and hopefully we can come to some form of understanding what

God or basically, yeah, actually, what God is trying to tell us

true. The apostle Paul, Okay, it starts off like it starts off

like this. It says, live as citizens of Heaven. That's the title

in the NL for this portion or this paragraph of the scriptures. And he

says, he is, okay, I'm going to read from twenty seven.

Now, above all, you must live as citizens of Heaven, conducting yourselves

in a manner worthy of the good news about Christ. Then whether I come

and see you again or only hear about you, I will know that you

are standing together with one spirit and one purpose, fighting together for the faith,

which is the good news. Verse twenty eight. Don't be intimidated in

any way by your enemies. These will be assigned to them, that they

are going to be destroyed, but that you are going to be saved,

even by God himself. Verse twenty nine. For you have been given not

only the privilege of trusting in Christ, but also the privilege of suffering for

Him. And verse that he says, we are in this struggle together.

You have seen in my struggle in the past, and you know that I

am still in the midst of it. When God bless the reading of his

word. Of course, this is a portion of scripture. Paul is writing

it, and he's writing it to the Philippi Church. And if you ever

wondered why sometimes when I preach, I always tell you that the gospel that

we preach, it's the gospel of suffering. Well here it is. There's

nothing in Paul's letters which tells us that, look, when you give your

life to Jesus, everything is gonna be fine and Dandan is going to be

super comfortable and you do have to lift a finger. You don't see that.

He's really downright honest in his writings and he's sharing and so we know,

we know this is what he says. Let's go through it line by

line. But let's get some contacts. Okay, I like to give us

a bit of contact. Everyone's still with me, so only the first five

minutes stay with me. Okay, some context, some contexts, just in

case somewhere you are going to fall asleep. No one fall asleep. Okay,

let's let's understand Paul's letter to the Church in Philippi. Firstly, is

this because you need to understand context, then you can sort of unlock the

meaning of the scripture. So Paul's letter to the Philippians is basically a letter

from an apostle to a church. That's the first thing that you need to

realize, and that's one of the keys to unlock the meaning of this portion

of Scripture. The second thing is you need to also realize not only is

it a letter from an apostle to a church, is also a letter from

a very Jewish jew to gentile believers, because the Philippi Church is basically a

church located somewhere in Greece, and so there were all gentiles. So this

is another key that sometimes we'll be able to help us to unlock the meaning

of the scripture. But there is a third key and probably more important for

this very portion that we are looking into today, and it comes from this.

No, we've got to realize that this letter is from a Roman citizen

to a Roman colony. Are yay staying with me? Paul is a Roman

citizen, and the church in Philippi, or basically the region of Philippi is

a Roman colony. And a lot of what I'm going to be talking about

today and teaching today, you need to come to that understanding first. Okay.

So if you notice, if you read scripture, you realize that the

Roman Empire and the Christian Church sort of grew simultaneously. That's why when you

read scriptures you see Caesar and all those are all the Roman dudes. Okay.

So it was because Roman colonies had been established everywhere with a Roman way

of life and Roman roads and all sorts of other Roman customs, that Paul

was able as a Roman citizen to travel from one place to another place to

establish colonies for christ You realize that a lot of it was because of the

Roman infrastructure that was already in place, and Paul moved accordingly and somehow throughout

the ages. When you talk about empire building, it sort of goals hand

in hand with missionary work. I don't know whether you all realized this.

Not how many of your studying mission school mission school? Okay? None,

Okay, some of your raise your hands. Nowadays mission school is slowly diminishing

somehow. But this is the reality of it, because even the missions work

here in Malaysia, it started off with churches, schools, hospitals, and

really it was because of the colonial powers that came to Malaysia, the colonial

powers that shaped our nation, that brought the churches, that brought the school

that brought the hospitals into this land. No, from the Portuguese to the

Dutch, and finally the English. Of course, the English were the last

to leave, while some would say the Japanese were the last to leave,

but actually I feel it's more than English were the last to leave after chasing

the Japanese out. And we have a very rich heritage of both or not

all three. Some Portuguese, some Dutch, but a lot of English heritage,

especially our Anglican churches, the Methodist churches. I mean, if you

ever ever go to Tia One, go to there's a museum that I remember

in the church and it basically traces back. How is it Methodism? I'm

looking at Tiffany because she's from City Awan. I think it's Methodism. How

the Methodist Church established itself and it's really powerful. There's so many schools now,

there's so many hospitals, and was using boats back then that they came

and I think the Methodist work start mainly in Cittaiowan and Cebu or was it.

I think he probably started in Cebu and then he came to Staiowan,

something along those lines. But I understand that, okay, And so do

you know that one of the reasons that missionary interests in Europe and England has

declined. It's also because both the European and the British empires have declined over

the decades. And now it's into the I mean, now you don't talk

about European imperialism and British imperialism those who probably you saw the last of it

in the fifties, forties and fifties. But come to think of it,

Europe actually went out quite a fair bit. That's why Spanish is the most

widely spoken language in different parts of the world besides Mandarin, because they went

over to Latin America and a lot of Latin America speaks Spanish. Portugal was

also quite aggressive in that sense, and you have the whole Brazil speaking Portuguese,

and of course in Indonesia you get the Dutch coming in. In Malaysia

we got all sorts, but mainly we got the English at the end of

it. I remember the first time I went to UK. I went to

England, I felt at home. You know why, because a lot of

things are quite familiar from the architecture, the things that they built. If

you walk around sometimes or even in UK, you will see some of the

older buildings quite similar to the architecture that we are familiar with here in Malaysia,

you'll be strangely surprised. But that is something that we need to understand.

And really the missionary interests declined together with the empires, and so that's

why the concept of actually having something to give to other countries, the concept

of going elsewhere to establish a way of life in a way has died,

both for the European empires and also the Church. And that's why you don't

see missions work actually coming out of Europe or UK today. In fact,

after that you see mainly North American missionaries going out because technically the Americans were

establishing the American way of life, and together with the American way of life

which came out through Hollywood, came out a lot of North American missionaries as

well. That has gone on to work, and I think today we are

starting to see a shift again because really there's also been a diminishing American way

of life going out, and less and less North American missionaries going out.

I'm seeing more and more Asian and African missionaries going out today. But anyway,

I just want us to understand this because this is context. It will

help us as I go through these scriptures. Okay, so that is what

Paul was doing. You see when he wrote as a Roman citizen to a

Roman colony in philip By, he was using language, he was using thoughts

and ideas. He was using pictures which belong to a colonizing empire. You

will you'll realize that one of the reasons why the Christianity split a lot is

because there was common language as well, common language was being spoken. So

colonizing is very much I know, it's frowned upon today's science when we think

about it, because we are also a former colony. The attempt to take

one way of life and plant it in another country is sort of regarded as

a little bit out of datla. Okay. And basically, I've watched so

many stand up comedians make fun of colonization because really sometimes we see more of

the shortcomings than the good things that comes along with it, and so they

are constantly making a mockery of it. But I want us to understand the

concept because it is from Scripture. Amen. So as Christians, we must

be committed to colonizing for Jesus Christ. That is our calling. We are

committed to building an empire or a kingdom of Heaven here on earth. Amen.

You'll realize that there is a mandate over our lives and basically we are

all imperialist. Now we're supposed to be like aliast I know you'll watched marsh

Russell Peters and Trevor Noire. You'll be like you're the flow, always working

the imperialist powers. No. But really, this is our calling, this

is our purpose. We are imperialist in the deepest sense of the world.

Our task basically is to establish colonies of Christ with a lifestyle that belongs to

Heaven wherever we can. And we are not supposed to make any apology apologies

for that kind of colonizing. And Paul actually planted a colony of Heaven in

Philippine. That's what he did because that was a key place for a colony,

and that is why the Romans when there, Paul planted a colony for

Christ within the Roman colony in Greece, so you can see what he was

doing. No, his fears for the colony are exactly the same as the

fears for any colony. And we will look at it now, we will

study in a deeper manner. You realize that wherever there is a colony planted,

there are two things that can happen which can destroy it. And these

are the two dangers that we will start seeing when we studied the scripture a

little bit more in a deeper sense of it. One is you realize there's

an internal danger, basically that the colony can crack up from the inside.

And the second thing is this there is sometimes an external danger that it can

be attacked from the outside and destroyed as well. And so let us think

about the Roman colony. Okay, imagine with me a Roman colony. It

was a group of people, a community, who lived entirely as if they

were in the city of Rome itself. That's what a colony is essentially the

air dress. They are food, they are sport, their leisure activities,

their law, cards, their justice. Every single part of their life was

identical with the life of those who live in the capital itself, like it

is as though they are living in Rome. Basically, if you are in

Philippi, you're supposed to be a miniature Rome essentially, and once you got

into one of those colonists, it felt no different from being back home.

So understand that the second thing that kept me the colony was this, there

will always be soldiers who are there, and soldiers who will be noted for

their bravery and their courage, their ability to stand against overwhelming odds without fear.

So if you have ever seen pictures of Romans making a stand against a

large alien army, you will see a picture of what kept every Roman colony

going. They had a strong defense. Okay, So basically what makes a

colony is it's correcter and its defense. Stay with me here, stay with

me everyone, Okay, it's correct and his defense basically his citizens living the

way of Roman citizens did, and his soldiers fighting courageously to preserve that little

colony. And the result was that these Roman colonies established all over Europe and

North Africa were able to hold the empire. Now, those are the two

things and the two dangers. Now that relates to them. Okay, let's

talk about some of the dangers that relates to both correcter and defense. The

first thing is this, sometimes, and I don't know whether you have ever

heard of this term, sometimes the Roman citizens can go native. Have you

ever heard of this term? They went native? Basically, you try to

imagine, okay, try to imagine an officer in the British Empire away in

the jungles of Africa, and he usually has afternoon tea with scones and jam

and butter, and then he dresses up for dinner quite deliberately, even though

he's in the middle of the jungle, to preserve his way of life.

Right, But if he went native, it would just mean that he stopped

his British way of life, which just means that he abandons a union jack.

By by union jack. Right now, I'm going to be marrying a

local woman, and I would take on all the local customs, and basically

what will happen is that he will start to lose his British character. Does

that make sense? So in a Roman colony, this same thing could happen.

Roman citizens could become more attracted to the culture of the country in which

they were living, and then they can start dressing up in a different way.

They can start talking in a different way. They can be interested in

different kinds of spots. Then very quickly that colony became less of an influence

for the empire. It starts to lose his identity. The other thing that

could happen, the other danger besides going native, is this the moral amongst

the soldiers can diminish. And when it did, instead of Roman soldiers with

their shields and spears lining up shoulder to shoulder, closing ranks, no forming

a defense, what can happen is they can panic and they can run,

and of course then the colony will be at risk of being overrun and overtaken.

Are you all with me? So these are the two dangers in every

Christian colony as well. One is a matter of character and the other one

is a matter of defense. And this is what Paul is essentially talking about

in this portion of scripture. Paul's concerner is not about himself, no,

but about the Church, which is the Kingdom of Heaven established here on earth.

I think all of us can agree that God's colony, which is ruling

and reigning here on earth, is the Church. So Paul's two concerns were

this, firstly, that they will not be compromised from the insight regarding the

way of life very important. And secondly that when they are faced, when

they face the enemy together, they will not be intimidated or frightened, That

they won't panic, that they will continue to hold firm. That was Paul's

two concerns. And then only will they not lose ground. If the character

of the colony has start to diminish and dissipate and disappear from within, it

would be much more difficult for the moral of the troops to defend it.

And these things, you realize is actually two sides of the same coin.

They go hand in hand. So what happens on the inside affects what happens

on the external. Okay, So Paul says this, No, only let

your way of life be worthy of the Gospel. Wow, I know as

not. As we read this portion of Philippines over and over again and we

just glance through it like that, only let your way of life be worthy

of the Gospel? What does that mean? That is the first thing that

he says. No, And when you face enemies, basically, do not

be frightened in anything. Never panic, never go into a stampede mode,

Never start running but stand firm together in one spirit, shoulder to shoulder,

closing ranks, like how Roman soldiers defend themselves and defend your colony. And

that's why in First Pitter three fifteen they also says, always be ready to

defend our hope in the Lord. It's very important. And that is our

situation in churches today, whether we realize it or not. We are colonies

of heaven, citizens of heaven under heaven rules. That's who we are essentially

and ultimately. And first there was the danger of compromise from within, and

this is something that we all have to take note of as a church.

Paul is teaching the people that they must keep up the standards, whether he

is present or not. That's what he's saying. He's telling them, don't

just lean on me. If you lean on any human being, then your

experience is borrowed. There is only one person you can lean on. Who

do you think you should be leaning on? Jesus Christ is his name,

and I know that God often often he ministers to us through other people.

But if any colony of heaven is leaning on a single person, then their

experience is borrowed and they will collapse if that person fails. That's the reality

of it. And this is why Paul is saying, whether the Apostle comes

to see them or his absence, they are to lean on Christ. When

Paul says he wants his readers to be living a live worthy of the Gospel

of Christ, he means there is to be no compromise from within, that

there is consistency between what they talk about and how they live their lives.

It is very important in a colony of heaven that you are living as heaven

is, living as if you were already there, even though you might be

a long way off. And there's why Roman colonies live in a particular way.

Even if they have never visited Rome before, they live as though they

have stayed there all their lives. And one of the most amazing things Jesus

said about about himself is this. No. In John chapter three, verse

thirteen, he says, no man has ascended into Heaven, but he who

came down from heaven, even the son of men, who is in heaven.

I know, sounds like a player of words, like what in the

world did he just say? But did you ever notice that last phrase?

Again? I repeat that no man has ascended into heaven, but he who

came down from heaven, even the son of Man who is in heaven.

That last phrase, in other words, what Jesus is essentially saying is there

for the thirty three years that he lived here on earth, he lived heaven

on earth. He was a little colony of heaven himself. And if you

want to know what life in heaven is, look to Jesus and see no

further. That's ultimately what he's saying. And he's an amazing thought. A

colony of heaven on earth should so live that people can say, if you

want to know what heaven is like, go and live with these people,

and you will know what heaven is like. As we think of living a

live worthy of the Gospel, let's look at three dimensions of the gospel again.

I know I'm going to do mental aromatic with you. A thing I

want you to think about the scriptures. First of all, is this some

dimensions of the gospel. I think it's important for us to take note.

Thank you everywhere. You're doing good with the slights. I don't know how

she does it, but she's doing it well. Okay, First of all,

realize this is the Gospel of liberty. It is good news about freedom.

That's what the gospel is. That's a dimension of the Gospel that we

need to take note. It is saying you are now free, and you

are redeemed, you are no longer in need to live like a slave.

Then how do you live a life worthy of the gospel. If that is

one dimension of the gospel, you leave a life worthy of the Gospel by

not falling into any kind of slavery. If there is a colony of heaven

that has fallen into bondage of any kind, it is no longer demonstrating the

life of heaven. And the Gospel of liberty demands that every colony of the

Gospel is living as free people. That's why, as believers we are set

free. We are free people. That means that you need to constantly avoid

two forms of slavery. The first form of slavery is something called legalism.

I'm not going to go too deep into it. I've preached quite a fabit

on legalism, and you can go into Galatians and different epistles in the Bible

to understand a little bit more. But you will see two forms of slavery.

One is legalism, which brings you into the bondage of rules, rules,

rules, rules, rules, rules and regulations. And then another form

of bondage is this it's called license, which brings you into the slavery of

self and sin. Basically, the Gospel of Liberty says that we have to

be set free from both legalism and license. Because Christ redeem us from the

lordy, he redeem us from sin as well, and therefore, as a

colony of heaven is a place where free men and women who are living in

the liberty of the spirit under need of these bondages. A man, so

Christ, who set us free from both bondages, would now say, now

you live free. The truth sets you free. And there is one example

of how a church can fall out of a life worthy of the Gospel is

when we actually fall back into legalism or we fall into license, both of

which are very very very common. You can be very legalistic, set up

a law of rules in church, and you'll fall back, or you can

go the other way. You can go wrong. And basically I can do

whatever I want now because Jesus died rdema, so do whatever you want.

No, you see the irony of this er these two things is this No,

they are the opposite. Yet they are very very closely needed together because

if you fall into one, no, it is not long before the other

one appears. Basically, we move from one end to the other end most

of the time. If a church goes into license and do whatever you want,

is not long before you realize that laws and rules and regulations will be

introduced to bring you back. But it goes is a reaction, and I

will tell you this is neither of It is liberty. So we are preaching

a gospel of freedom, and the colony of heaven is free. Remember that

that is the first dimension of the gospel. The second thing is this another

expect of a colony of heaven is this? The Gospel is a gospel of

life. So a life worthy of the Gospel is basically full of life.

Amen, it's yeah, I don't have to go too deep into that.

Yeah, as long as you can go into a church and it doesn't feel

a life, it feels dead. It's jury is boring. And a minister

gets out here and say, no, here we are we offer abundant life

in the name of Jesus Christ. And then everyone says, it's like,

well, if this is abundant life. I'd rather be dead, right,

Sometimes that happens. If we are going to live a life that is worthy

of the Gospel, then it will be a life that really is life.

Both abundant and eternal. They go hand in hand, abundant and eternal.

Do you know? I just recently visited a or an as Lee settlement to

explore some new work in one of the smaller towns here in Malaysia, traveled

three hours to get there, and then attended the church of this pastor who

runs the only Bahassa speaking church in that town. And what he does is

he brings his congregation members made out of all sorts of different kinds of people

by all Basta speaking. He brings them into the interiors to reach out to

as many unreach Aborigine people here in Malaysia. And he does it so willingly

and so happily. I mean, he's just telling me, I want to

go further and further and further in No, pastor, will you follow?

You want to follow us in? It's like five hours drive. No,

I don't know whether your car you'll make it or you're living in the middle

of the jungle. And then start walking I'm like, okay, But really,

he had so much life in him and he was fixed. No,

he was like, I want to bring the gospel, this gospel of life

to as many people as possible. I was so blessed just spending a couple

of days with him. That means a colony of people who are excited at

the possibility of death. No, because some of the places that he goes

into is rough, is really rough, even the places that he brought me

to us Me and chan I went with cha saying prayers. Really as we

are driving, because it's like you are, we are surfing down the rough

terrain roads. No, I'm not even rolling, I'm surfing. But basically,

that means a colony of people who are excited at the possibility of death,

those to whom death is no threat to them. Those who rejoice at

the saints readying glory, who belong to their fellowship and are looking forward to

joining them. No, that's how sometimes. No, when I look at

him, I'm like, this fla is ready to go. He tells me

that I'm ready. Anytime Jesus calls me home, I go home. I'm

like, they have a look at the side he's got four kids there and

a wife. But the wife was all like, let's all go together.

When we bring all our jama together. Amazing. So that's the second dimension

life, Gospel of Life. The third dimension is this is known the Gospel

of Love. How then can you have a colony of heaven in which people

are not forgiving one another, people are critical of one another, people are

backbiting, people are constantly gossiping. Doesn't sound like the gospel, right,

So the whole thing won't make sense. No, it is not a colony

of the Gospel. If the church does not live out these dimensions, does

it makes sense? Am I making sense to your Ultimately, people must see

the church as a colony of the Gospel and say that's the life I want

to live, just as people wanted to be Roman citizens back then. Gospel

of Liberty, Gospel of Love, and the Gospel of Life. From these

three dimensions, now, let's look at three reminders that Paul is highlighting again,

Like I say, I'm going to go through scripture by scripture, three

reminders he highlighted again. He said, I want you to live a life

worthy of the Gospel. So essentially he's saying this reminded number one, there

is an obligation. There is a note of obligation. If you're going to

have the privileges of the Gospel, then the responsibilities come with it. The

privilege is that you have been forgiven and promise a place in heaven. The

responsibility is that you live as a citizen of heaven. Amen, there is

an obligation here to live worthy of the Gospel. Then there is also this

no, there's this thought of demonstration. How in the world is the world

going to believe if they only hear but don't see. And that's the reality

of it. The world believes what it sees rather than what it hears.

The world is watching this community called Christians and Saints. Do we see there

the good News live out or not? That's the question that we have to

ask ourselves as a church. Are we living out the good News? Are

we living out the Gospel? When they do see, then the church's appeal

it becomes irresistible. And then you'll see the third reminder, the third note

here. Not only is there an obligation to live a life worthy of the

Gospel, not only will it be a demonstration, but then it will ultimately

be an attraction. I don't know whether we can say that for our churches

today that it is an attraction. Paul is concerned that just as people's main

ambition in the Roman Empire was to become a Roman citizen. That's why it

was happening back then. People wanted to become a Roman citizen. They want

to get into one of those Roman colonies. So the world should actually see

the church like that as well. That is the life, and that is

the people that I won to live with. A Christian is concerned about the

doctrines and the teachings of Christ. The Doctor is what we preach, and

we must practice what we preach. Paul is saying he wants the world to

be attracted to this colony. He wants people to say, can we get

citizenship in this kingdom or not? Could we be part of what heaven rules

is all about? Are we living it like that? And before we leave

this phrase a way of life worthy of the Gospel, we must realize that

the way of life is not primarily an individual thing. Sometimes we always think,

okay, we've got to leave the just the individual lives. Yes,

it's important, but Paul is talking about it like this. You have to

understand, a Roman colony was made up of a community of people who are

Roman in their relationship with one another. Essentially, a colony is a community,

not just individuals. A colony is relationships ultimately, and Paul is saying

he wants believers together to be the colony. You cannot be a colony just

by attending Sunday survey on not possible, because it would be just like the

Romans can be a colony just because they go to the stadium on Sunday,

which they did a lot back then, and watch spots. They like to

watch people killing one another. Does that make them a colony if they just

go on a Sunday to watch spots. No, they were a colony in

the language they spoke to one another, which was Latin. They were a

colony in the justice they meted out to each other. Truth they are courts.

They were a colony in everything they shared together. And when people saw

the colony, they did not see individuals. They saw a community. So

Paulice saying, I want to hear that your living standards, your lifestyle is

the lifestyle of those who are already in heaven, already enjoying eternal life,

already living a new lifestyle, living it together. And that's how he slowly

starts to move into the next part. He says, now, I want

you all to realize that it's a relationship with each other in unity. Read

the scripture again. You will see that I want to hear that you are

standing firm in one spirit, striving together, side by side with one mind.

That's what the scripture reads. And the saddest thing you can ever hear

about a church is that they are divided. A colony depends on its unity.

As soon as a colony is divided, it is wide open to enemies

attack, and the soldiers who defend it will lose their moral because in their

minds they bill like, why in the world am I defending a group that

keeps on squabbling? Why would I want to do that? So Paul's concern

that they live a life worthy of the Gospel moves naturally into a concern that

they remain united, that they stand firm together, and that their unity has

a common ambition. Basically, they are doing the same thing together. And

that's why Jesus said in Matthew chapter twelve, verse twenty five, every house

and every city that is divided against itself will fall. There is no quicker

way for a church to lose its character as a colony of heaven than to

become divided. Whatever causes the division, or whatever is the ground of it,

No wonder that Jesus, or the nine in which he was betrayed,

what did he pray? He prayed that they may be one? Jest as

I am one with the Father John seventeen. It's important for us to realize

this, that men are basically one in hard mind and will. If they

had been divided, the church will have never got off the ground. Do

you realize that Jesus was concerned that this little colony of heaven here had established

should remain united. So is Paul. And the believers are to stand firm,

and that the expression is the same word used for soldiers in battle.

He's telling them stand firm. That is what Paul is concerned about. Unity

at the local church level is very important. Nothing them may just a church's

witness as quickly as division. And I know, don't just come to church

on a Sunday to listen to a sermon. Be part of the community,

be part of the larger body. Do live together. And here is where

we all see that Paul is not interested in unity without a purpose. It

is a unity that is directed to something. It is a unity to a

particular objective. You see, churches can be united over different things. One

though, you can't have a church united over putting a new building up.

And there's not wrong. I'm not saying there's anything wrong with it, but

that is not the objective that really holds a colony of heaven together. You

can be united in social activities or united in political concerns. You can share

same interest. But there is only one reason big enough for a real unity

of a church, which is a true colony of heaven, and that is

that you are striving and contending together for the faith of the Gospel. This

should be our prime concern, the faith of the Gospel. That is why

we are united shoulder to should. The closing rank pot clearly means two things

when he says that, or he means please preserve the Gospel, and then

he goes on to say please propagate the Gospel. Two things, and they

go hand in hand. I think that's a slide for that. A church

that is united for the dual purpose those dual purpose is a church that has

found the secret of unity. What is needed is a unity that says,

we must preserve the Gospel. We must not allow it to be corrupted.

We must hold on to the truth that makes us a colony of heaven and

the gospel that gives us our character. We must preserve it. But we

not only preserve it from getting corrupted, we must proper gate it. Some

churches that are only concerned we're preserving the gospel, you can end up become

in date because all you want to do is preserve it, and then you

end up a preservative yourself. They have a unity that is not alive,

that is not vibrant. You need propagation as well. What is propagation,

Well, go and spread it basically, but if you propagate without preserving the

gospel, then they can also go very wrong because you can propagate a jarans

sasa. That's what it basically means, preserve it propagated basically. Striving together

for the faith of the Gospel means standing firm for the truth and keep walking

out with the truth in hand. Policyinger, I want you not to panic,

not to be shy, not to start stampeding everywhere. There will be

times where we may find ourselves in situations where fear can actually take over.

And that's the reality of it. The church is changing excitingly from bringing a

very defensive community to being a little bit more aggressive, a little bit more

offensive, and there are so many signs of this. I believe God's people

in this land are changing. Just keeping the church going is not just our

main objective now. Now we are out to challenge the world. We are

going to be speaking out, stepping out, colonizing. I see that,

I see that in the churches. There has definitely been a little bit more

urgency because we have been in Allah for a while. No, we want

to take Malaysia for King Jesus, don't we Christians. That is how mandate.

That is our ambition. That is going to involve changing people's lifestyle.

It is going to involve setting up communities of a new lifestyle all over these

land in places where there are no colonies, seeing more people become citizens of

Heaven, true discipleship. Why do you think we plant churches, Why do

you think we plant to us in as many places as we can, because

that it's a little piece of Heaven here on earth, and it's important for

us to keep this going. Don't just think of preservation. Let's just keep

it inside inside, inside, No, we need to step out. And

the next reality is this, we cannot colonize any land for Christ without opposition.

How many of you all realize that that there will always be opposition?

Verses to an Age says, don't be afraid of your enemies, always be

courageous. One simple line. Let's see what Paul really means, because it

proves two things. No, from that one line, that the enemy is

going to lose, and then you are going to win if you have Christ

on your side. Let us look why we say this. First of all,

you need to know yourself. You need to know that you belong to

God and that you are going to have the victory. Your enemies also need

to know that you are going to win, so that they are moral may

crumble. That's something that's important. Now. These two things happen when Christians

are unafraid. Time and time again, you read church history and you find

that those who persecuted the Church became afraid for themselves because the Christians were not

afraid. Read if you ever have the chance, read about the old Martyrs.

I think that's a book called the Fox's Book of Martyrs. Even I

have not read it, but probably got a lot of stories inside. And

when you read of what the early Christians went through, you know they were

thrown in the lions then, but they were now marching singing into the arena,

singing him to Jesus. They were not afraid. This lack of fear,

this astonishing God given courage in the first at least three hundred years of

Church history, when persecution was actually at its worst, convinced the enemy that

they had already lost. If they are up against God, they knew that

they could not prevail. And that's the reality of it. This was true

of Roman colonies. Know when the enemies, however much they outnumbered the Roman

soldiers, saw the Roman defenders standing firm without fear, they knew in their

hearts they lost ready. And he was true of Paul himself. As a

young man. Paul actually stood and held the jackets of a man, of

the man who was stoning who Stephen, the first Christian martyr. And Stephen

died saying, day is no Father, forgive them. They don't know what

they're doing. The same prayer that Jesus had prayed. There was no fear

on Stephen's face as the stones hid him, bruised team eventually killed him.

He died saying, Lord Jesus received my spirit, no fear. He wasn't

complaining his liear or God, while you put me true days know and Paul

or Saul, whereas he was known back then, knew he had already lost.

And when he knew he lost what he do He went out. He

became even more fanatical when against the Christians, and that's why they locked.

He locked the Christians in prison, and that's why he left his own land

to go and persecute them, because he knew he had lost and he was

already ruined. He knew that he was hated for destruction. Really he went

on the offensive, thinking that that would be the best cause of action.

But no, of course we know Paul's story. He met Jesus himself.

So not only do the enemies realize where they are, but Christians realize they

actually have confidence. Only if you have been in a situation where you should

be terrified, and then you found yourself not terrified, will you have the

assurance of what we are talking about now? Isn't that true? I mean,

I'm someone who has got a lot of fears. When I was growing

up, heights fear of heights is one of the things that I was really

really scared of heights. But I used to do all sorts of stupid things

that puts me hate or with the fear of heights. I remember going repelling

from a waterfall even though I feared heights when I was a kid. Fear

I really feel, I can, I can, I can be totally like

not move, you know, just just there. But I did it.

I climb Mountain Nabaloo when I was a kid when I was sixteen. Fearing

heights. I went up to gunting when I was young, and of course

my friends dared me to take the Solaro shot, knowing that I feared heights,

and I did it. After after doing it once, then I realized,

actually, I'm not dead fearful of it. Of course I won't to

go up the Solaro shot too many times. SnO good for your heart at

the end of the day. But but you get what I'm saying. No,

you will realize that you actually have the confidence if you have been in

a situation where you are not afraid. So we are not bravely. Naturally,

I'm a coward at heart. Really, sometimes I'll run away, and

I run away from situations by nature, and perhaps some of us are not

very different. We shall find that God gives us assurance. That's where it

comes from. It comes from God's assurance. Do you know that it is

God Almighty who not only enable you to believe in Christ, but who gave

you the privilege of suffering for him, of getting into the battle. This

is how we should actually look at it fearlessly. You know, in all

the stories of Christians suffering down the ages, the one thing you never hear

a Christians saying is why should God let this happen to me? The martyrs,

the great martyrs, who don't hear them asking questions like that, why

should God let this happen to me? And it's quite extraordinary that you would

rarely find such a record. Rather, when suffering came to them in the

cause of Christ, this was the note that sounds every time they rejoice.

They rejoice is that they were worthy to suffer for the name of Jesus.

And that is astonishing. It's astonishing. That's Paul, No, I rejoice

in suffering for the Lord, for to me, to live is Christ and

to die is Gained. Now, let me make it as straightforward as you

can. Know, when you're suffering is due to the fact that you are

fighting for Jesus. You would highly ask questions like, Lord, why You're

allowing me to go to all this when you're in a battle, because you

are a Christian, because you are colonizing for Christ. You will know that

God has granted you to suffer for him. That's a privilege. But we

don't see it. In fact, we don't preach it like this today only

because we all want something that's more comfortable for our lives. You will know

that this is your privilege, and you will know it because this is the

privilege He gave to all citizens. And if we count ourselves as citizens of

heaven rules, then Paul is essentially telling his readers are that they will be

in the same battle as they had seen and hurt Jesus was in. They

were having the privilege of suffering as Jesus suffered, and that's why Jesus actually,

in the Sermon of the Mound, says this. No. In Matthew

chapter five, verses eleven the twelve he says God blesses you when people mocked

you and persecute you and lie about you and say all sorts of evil things

against you, because you are my followers. Be happy about it. I

don't know how we can be happy about it, but he says, be

happy about it. Not only did he stop that, he says, be

very glad for a great reward awaits you in heaven. And remember the ancient

prophets who are persecuted in the same way. So Paul is encouraging believers.

No, he doesn't say, now you're Christians, you can have a nice,

comfortable time or anything like that. He says to you, God has

granted to believe and to suffer. Is the gospel of suffering. And why

is this privilege so important to us? Because the enemy is the same and

Satan does not want us to take any ground, does not want to want

us to take any part of this world and colonize it for Christ. Satan

does not want the Gospel preserved, and neither do see one the gospel propagated.

Satan does not want these colonies to be established, for he knows that

when people see a colony of heaven, deep down they know they have lost

and deep down they know that it is the way and this is the righteous

life. So Satan is going to stop it at every possible way he can.

And that's why I tell you this. If your church is always so

comfortable, something is not right, because there will always be opposition. If

you are both preserving and propagating the gospel. Paul is telling believers to not

be afraid. And I must say, this may not be the teaching of

a comfortable life that we all should be anticipating when we declare that Heaven rules.

It's not. I'm going to be straight up with your I'm teaching you

of what to expect, because ultimately, when you say Heaven rules, you're

saying that Lord, thank you that you have given me the privilege to labor

and to suffer for you, not even suffer with him, nor because really,

I don't think any one of us can go through the exact same suffering

that Jesus Christ went through. So this is the summary. Paul is encouraging

the believers to ensure their lives are lived within the standards of the Gospel,

and that they must be a community that is living up to what they preach,

practice what we preach church. He wants them to be united in the

spirit and to not be divided in the flesh. Very important. He want

them to carry on preserving and propagating the gospel, and to not only be

interested in themselves and other things not related to the gospel, because sometimes we

can go and we can do our leave our entire Christian life looking just at

ourselves and looking inwardly. He does not want them to be afraid of conflict.

He wants them to remain encourage when suffering inevitably comes. I kid you

not, it will come. And if it doesn't come, then I'm not

sure if you're living out a life worthy of the Gospel. That is something

that we have to test ourselves. Are we living up the Gospel of life

love? Are we living out the Gospel of freedom. Paul is actually concerned

that they should rightly relate to the next world and to this one. Okay,

I don't know how to explain it. I've thought about the kingdom before,

and I've said this many times. No, the Kingdom of God is

here and now and also there, And then I know it's like, uh,

what does that mean? But I believe God's Kingdom is here and now

that means it has already started. Some commentators use this term it has already

been inaugurated. I mean it has begun, but it has not been fully

completed. It is not fully consummated. One day we will get heaven here

on earth, I'm sure of that. But right now we can live heaven

on earth already as a community of believers. That's what Paul wants us to

have both the mindset of the we are here and now, the Kingdom of

God is here and now, but also have that mind that it is there

and then and know what is it that you are going to expect? Then,

so we relate to the next world by being a little colony now that

there's already living the way of the next world. That's what heaven here on

earth means. And we relate to this world by being ready to fight and

to defend this colony of heaven. This is our responsibility. Remember I said

obligation just tells us that with every obligation comes a responsibility on our end as

believers and not just as individual believers. We are believers together in this family.

Many of us do not care about either of these two things, nor

sometimes like huh, Kingdom here apart, kingdom there apart. But yeah,

they're related. The beautiful thing is that the more we relate to the next

world, the more notice this world takes of us. We will realize that

one the more you live out the expectations of the next world, the world

that is to come, the gospel of abundant living an eternal life, the

more people will take notice of you right here, and it will essentially either

place you in the front line of defending God's kingdom or you will retreat.

There are only two ways to live our Christian life, and that's the reality

of it. So may God relate us rightly to the next world and also

to this world. May we be living a life as a community which is

so different that Satan is attacking you for it, and thus bringing out your

courage to defend the Gospel of Jesus Christ. This is our mandate. The

Lord sees us as an army standing for the defense of the Gospel. Let

us respond to the word of God and ask him to equip us to put

on the whole armor of God so that we may stand firm together. Then

when the evil day comes, you'll be able to resist the enemy's attack.

I believe it with all my heart, and that's why. Efficients chapter six

he says this, no, stand ready with truth as a belt right around

your waist, with righteousness as your breastplate, and as your shoes, the

readiness to announce the good news of peace at time, at all times.

Carry faith as a shield, for with it you will be able to put

out all the burning arrows shot by the evil one. Accept salvation of the

helmet and the word of God as the sword which the Spirit gives you.

Do this all in prayer, asking for God's help. We hope you've been

blessed by this message. For more information on our church, please visit X

Church the RG. We are also active on Facebook and Instagram. We're believing

that this week is going to be a good week. I hit for you. God bless